Small family run livestock farms stand out in Cordoba’s dehesa
A University of Cordoba study maps out the characteristics of dehesa farms associated with feeding cooperatives in Los Pedroches and Upper Guadiato
A dehesa is a distinctive ecosystem in the Mediterranean areas of the Iberian Peninsula labeled High Nature Value due to the value of its ecosystem services and its role in conserving biodiversity. An image of vast land sprinkled with holm oaks and cork oaks where extensive farm animals graze is the most common one that comes to mind when describing the topic of the dehesa, but what occurs when we zoom in on this image?
In pursuit of a supersheep
A research group at the University of Cordoba Genetics Department has analyzed gene variation in five Spanish sheep meat breeds as the first step to increase profitability in livestock
How could a sheep farmer’s job be made easier if they had a tool to choose the meat breed best suited to their needs beforehand? Much money and time would be saved by using a panel of markers to select a breed with genes associated with meat production. Finding an efficient and cost effective way to do so led the AGR-2018 “Improving and conserving genetic resources of domestic animals” research group to count sheep and above all, to analyze the genetic variability of their RNA (ribonucleic acid).